Local Plan Examination

Liverpool City Council submitted the Submission Draft Liverpool Local Plan for independent examination in May 2018. 

The submitted documents include the following:

• Liverpool Local Plan – Submission Draft May 2018
• Liverpool Local Plan – Submission Draft Policies Map and City Centre Inset Policies Map May 2018
• Liverpool Local Plan – Submission Draft Sustainability Appraisal Report (including Technical Appendices and Non-Technical Summary) including Strategic Environmental Assessment and incorporating Equalities Impact Assessment and Health Impact assessment
• Infrastructure Delivery Programme 2018
• Regulation 22 Statement Of Consultation
• Copies of ‘duly made’ representations received following publication of the Pre-Submission Liverpool Local Plan (Regulation 20), and 
• Other supporting documents and information relevant to the preparation of the Local Plan.

In December 2018 the independent Inspector appointed by the Secretary of State sent a list of initial detailed comments and questions to the City Council.

The City Council responded in September 2019 and in May 2020 the inspector issued his matters and issues questions. The council and all participants responded by 13th July 2020.

Independent Examination Hearing

The independent examiner, David Spencer BA (Hon) DipTp MRTPI, held a number of public hearing sessions on Tuesday 13th October 2020. 

They took place virtually via Microsoft Teams and you can view the sessions below.

• Read the privacy notice for Teams Hosted Local Plan Examination.
• Download the formal notice of the commencement of hearings.

For further details visit the Programme Officer's website, details below.

Public hearing sessions

Tuesday 13th October 2020

• Matter 1: Legal Compliance
• Matter 2: Spatial Strategy and Matter 4 (Issue 1): Overarching approach to the Green Belt

Wednesday 14th October 2020

• Matter 5: Employment
• Liverpool John Lennon Airport (AM session)
• Liverpool John Lennon Airport (PM session)

Thursday 15th October 2020

• Matter 3: Housing Need (Issue 1 and 2 - AM session)
• Matter 3: Housing Need (Issue 1 and 2 - PM session)
• Matter 8: Viability (Issue 4)

Friday 16th October 2020

• Matter 5 (Issue 4, Policy EC8) and Matter 6 (Site H19): Ports of Liverpool and Garston
• Matter 9: Urban Design Heritage

Tuesday 20th October 2020

• Matter 4 (Issue 3): Green Infrastructure and Open Spaces
• Matter 4 (Issues 2 and 4): Green Infrastructure and Open Spaces
• Matter 5: City Centre - Knowledge Quarter CC3

Wednesday 21st October 2020

• Housing Land Supply: Site specifics, Site H20
• Matter 6: Housing Land Supply AM sessions

Thursday 22nd October 2020

• Matter 8: Infrastructure, Environmental Resources and Monitoring
• City Centre, Main Office Area, Pall Mall and Pumpfields
• Matter 7: City Centre and Retail

Friday 23rd October 2020

• Final Session - Next Steps and Timetable 

Programme Officer

Helen Wilson was the Programme Officer for the Examination, she is an impartial officer of the Examination and works under the direction of the Inspector.

The Programme Officer published documentation and other details about the Local Plan Examination, including the Examination Documents list. 

• Download the list of examination documents

The Inspector's Report

The Inspector’s Report on the Examination of the Liverpool Local Plan has now been received and the council, in accordance with the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012, has published it below.

It will also be available to view at the council's Cunard Building reception, Water Street, L3 1AH and One Stop Shops during opening hours from 19th November 2021. Please email liverpoollocalplan​@liverpool.gov.uk for further information.

The report concludes that the Liverpool Local Plan is ‘sound’, provided that a number of main modifications (MMs) are made to it. The examination process has now concluded, and it is now for the council to determine whether to adopt the Local Plan. This will necessitate taking the report to Full Council.

View the Inspector's Report

The Inspector's Report and it's appendices are available to download below.

• Report on the Examination of the Liverpool Local Plan 2013-2033 (pdf : 604 KB)

  Download this document : Report on the Examination of the Liverpool Local Plan 2013-2033

  About this document

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• Appendix 1 - Schedule of Main Modifications (original version) (pdf : 1.7 MB)

  Download this document : Appendix 1 - Schedule of Main Modifications (original version)

  About this document

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• Appendix 1 - Schedule of Main Modifications (accessible version) (docx : 672 KB)

  Download this document : Appendix 1 - Schedule of Main Modifications (accessible version)

• Appendix 2 - Appendices to the Main Modifications Schedule 2 (pdf : 17.7 MB)

  Download this document : Appendix 2 - Appendices to the Main Modifications Schedule 2

Keep up to date

To ask to be kept up to date with the adoption of the Local Plan and the preparation of future planning policy documents, please email liverpoollocalplan​@liverpool.gov.uk.

Your feedback

The Planning Inspectorate would like your feedback about the examination.

If you were involved in the examination because you made comments in writing, or you took part in a hearing session, please fill in their short Local Plan Participant Survey. Any comments you make will be treated as confidential.